Steam iron



July 24, 1951 K|STNER 2,561,382

STEAM IRON Filed Oct. 7, 1948 FIG.I

""llllllllllll MQMW ATTORNEYS Patented July 24, 1951 UNITED S TATES? PAIEN T F FILCE IRON Mei-rill Kist'iier, Winsteuwonu.

Application October 7, 1948;;Serial-No. 53,272

f dlitimsr (Cl. 38 74) This invention relates to steam irons andm'oie' particularly to an improvement in steam irons" by means of which the time lag in the production of steamat the beginning. of' an ironing" operationisrecluced to a minimum; In my prior Patent'sNos. 2,313,382" and 2.384.839; granted'o'n March 9, I943, and s'eptemberlil' l fi', respectively, -I have disclosed and" claimed a steam iron" construction in which a water reservoir is mounted over the sole plate and'water is delivered from the reservoirthrough a valved outlet-to passages in-the sole plate inWhich itis converted into steamp The outlet is arranged adjacent the nose ofthe iron and when the user pauses to place anarticle on theironing board; or for other reasons, the iron may. be placed in an up-ended" position on its heel to interrupt the flow of water to the sole plate. This eliminates the necessity oi -opening and closing. the valve each time the ironing operation is interrupted.

While the provision of a reservoir and feed conduitthat willinterrupt the flow of 'water tothe soleplate when the iron isup-ended is. a desirable feature, ithas been found; in some instances, to have one disadvantage. As the quantity. of water in the reservoir diminishes,v there is a lagbetweenthe time whenthe iron isubroughtback to ironing position and the time when steam isproduced; In theironing of some fabrics,.particularly synthetics, this may. result in scorching or burningthe article being. ironed.

In the present invention I provide means whereby. the advantages of disconnecting the reservoir from thesole plate-when the iron is lip-ended are still obtained and the" disadvamtage avoided. To accomplish this, I provide a plate. extending. partially across the reservoir. This-plate is curved inhoriz'ontalcross section and thus forms a cup or Chamber when the ironis=-up-ended which will retain a portion of the water in the. reservoir. The plate is arrangedadjacent the outlet from i the reservoir to thesole plateand the water thus retained in the plate is immediately; available for-- steam supply.- when the iron is returned to itsironing position In addition to serving as an auxiliary reservoir to retain aquantitypf-water adjacent the conduit when the iron is up-ended, the plate further serves as a baflle-tdprevent'surging when the main quantity of water moves forwardly. in the reservoir after the iron'isretu'rnedtoits ironing position. It further serves to prevent surging during the'ironing operation when'th'emovement of theiron in one directionisstopped. v t

In the accompanying drawing I have shown onerembodiment of the invention; In this show- Fig-1 isaside elevation ora steam iron,-.parts behigshow-n in section;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view on line l-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the iron in upended position;

Fig. 4' is a' detailed; sectionai'view online 4-4" of Fig. 2; and

Fig: 5 is" a perspective view of the bafli'e' or chamberinthereservoir.

Referringto the drawing whereinI' have shown a steam iron of" the general construction shown" in prior Patent No. 2,384,849 but wherein" certain details, not necessary'for the understandii'i of the present invention, have been omitted fohclarity; the reference numeral l designates" generally the'sole plate of the iron which is" prov-iue'd'with a heating element (hotshown), steam" passages (hot'shown) and outlets in its lower or" pressing face (not shown) which may be of the construction disclosed in said patent" or of simi-- l'a'r filri'ctioning" construction. The iron is also provided" v'vt'ih a thermostat which is' controlled by a c'ontrolmember 2 andmay be provided with suitable connections between" the thermostat and the heating. element to a plug (not shown) to he connected by suitable wiring to an electrical outlet.- Above" the sole plate I provide a she1l3' tional steam iron construction and form no part of the present invention,. except in the combination claiine'd. To prevent delivery of the water through. the valve seat 6 to the sole plate, when the iron is inthe up-ended' position shown in- F'ig. 3, the reservoir 4 is so shaped that the quantity of water normally present in thereservoir will: not extend as far upwardly as the positionof the valve-seat with the iron in this position. as shown, the front and top of the reservoir isformedby the shell. 3-. A plate 9 is welded or otherwise secured to the front of the shell and extends rearwardly therefrom to form a relatively long,- shallow reservoir. This plate is extended upwardly to formtherear wall H) of the reservoir and secured to the insideof the shell. asat H. With an iron of such construction whenthe iron is moved from the up-ended position to the ironing position shown in Fig. l ofthe drawing, particularly after some of the water originally placed in the reservoir has been consumed, the water must flow from a point near the rear wall I'll of the reservoir to the valve seat ebeforeit-canbe-delivered to the sole plate In the present invention I provide a curved wall l2 (see Fig. 2) extending from a point: adjacent oneside of the reservoir to a point adjacent the other side of the reservoir and extending from the top to the bottom of the reservoir. This wall is placed immediately behind valve seat. 6. It is preferably provided with a top flange l3' and a bottom flange M to secure it to the top bottom may likewise be secured to the bottom9 I may thus provide two or more openings ii in the of the reservoir in any suitable manner.

bottom wall of the reservoir and the bottom flange [4 may be punched to provide tabs 16 (see Fig. 4). These tabsmay be passed through the openings 15 and then secured to the lower side of the wall 9 by silver solder or in any other suitable manner.

The operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoing description. In ironing, the iron is in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. When the iron is temporarily not in use, as when the user is removing an article which has been finished from the ironing board and replacing it with another article, the iron is arranged in the position shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing. The rear wall of the reservoir then forms the bottom of it and the water contained in the reservoir is in that portion to the rear of the valve seat 6. However, with the bafile [2 in the position shown, when the iron is moved to the position shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, a small portion of the water is trapped within this wall which then functions as a cup or container. When the iron is again brought to the ironing position, the water in the cup I2 is a much shorter distance from the opening in the bottom of the reservoir than the main quantity of water .which is at the rear of the reservoir. The result is that water is delivered to the sole plate as soon as, or before, the iron has actually assumed an ironing position and steam is available immediately.

As stated, the cup also serves as a baffle to prevent surging. The larger quantity of water which travels to the rear of the reservoir when the iron is placed on end, has a tendency to move toward the front of the reservoir at a high rate of speed as the iron is swung to a horizontal position but in doing so, a considerable quantity of it comes in contact with the wall l2 and its movement is slowed down. Also during the ironing operation r when the forward movement of the iron is stopped, there is a tendency toward surging which is substantially reduced by the presence of the dissipation of heat than if heavier metal were employed.

In addition, it will be noted that I provide an air space H between the top of the sole plate and the bottom of the reservoir. I may further provide a plurality of openings IS in the shell just I beneath the bottom of the reservoir. These openings, on each side of the shell, permit circulation of air and then assist in cooling the reservoir.

I claim: I

a 1. In a steam iron of the flash type havi'nza sole plate provided with heating means to convert water into steam, a water reservoir over the sole'plate, an outlet from the reservoir to. deliver water to the sole plate, the outlet being arranged adjacent the nose portion of the iron to inter- .rupt the flow of water to the sole plate when I the iron is up-ended on its heel, and a manually operable valve controlling the outlet, the combination of a baffle plate in the reservoir in the rear of and adjacent to the outlet, the bailie plate extending'from the top to the bottom and from a point adjacent one side of the reservoir to a point adjacent the other side and being shaped to trap a quantity of water when the iron is upended.

2. In a steam iron of the flash rupt the flow of water to the sole plate when the iron is' up-ended on its heel, and a manually operable valve controlling the outlet, the combination of a curved plate in the reservoir in the rear of the outlet, the concaved side of the plate be-' ing toward the front and adjacent to said out-- let, the bafile plate being spaced from at least one wall of the reservoir to permit flow of water in the reservoir and to trap a quantity of water when the iron is up-ended.

3. In a steam iron of the flash type having a sole plate provided with heating means to convert water into steam, a water reservoir over the baffle plate being shaped to form a cup having its open end toward the front of the iron to trap a quantity of water when the iron is up-ended and being spaced from at least one wall thereof.

4. In a steam iron of the flash type having a sole plate provided with heating means to convert'water into steam, a water reservoir over the sole plate, anoutlet from the reservoir to'deliver water to the sole plate, the outlet being arranged adjacent the nose portion of the iron to interrupt the flow of water to the sole plate when the iron is up-ended on its heel, and a manually operable valve controlling the outlet, the combination of a member mounted in the reservoir in the rear of and adjacent to the outlet and spaced from at least one wall thereof, said member being shaped to trap a quantity of water when the iron is up-ended on its heel.

MERRILL M. KISTNER.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,218,323 Eckstein Oct. 15, 1940 2,254,851 Miller Sept. 2, 1941' 2,313,382 Kistner Mar. 9, 1943 2,384,839 Kistner Sept. 18, 1945 2,432,205 Morton -1 Dec. 9, 194'] type having a sole plate provided with heating means to con A vert water into steam, a water reservoir over the: soleplate, an outlet from the reservoir to deliver water'to the sole plate, the outlet being arranged adjacent the nose portion of the iron to inter-- 

